so maybe one day ill write up a full guide, but for now, here is this. i searched but didnt find anything.

as an addendum to the wonderful oil change how-to on this site: http://www.4runners.org/articles/oil/
these are the additional steps that need to be performed. 1.1 comes after 1, but before 2, etc.
Step 1.1
Remove Left Front tire for easier access to the oil filter. also a good time to check and see if your rotors are warped, etc.

Step 1.2
After lifting the vehicle in the air, remove (4) 12mm bolts from the rear skid plate, slide toward rear of vehicle, and set aside out of the way. now remove (5) 12mm bolts for the front skid plate, two in recessed pockets in the rear, and three ahead of the radiator. The rear of the skid plate will drop down, but the front has hangers so it does not fall on you. Lower this and set aside.

Step 3.1
Reinstall skid plates, reverse of removal. reinstall tire and wheel, torquing to proper specs.


this may be common sense, but i dont know if alot of you guys do this or not. this is my experience, i had NO spills, and only had to clean a very small amount of oil off of the block/front differential. less than 2 tablespoons. this was caused by the oil coming out of the filter as i unscrewed it. This was worth the extra effort to avoid any oil spillage that both contaminates the enviroment, and stains your driveway/garage, not to mention a pain to clean. Also, the extra time i spent removing the skid plates was made up for in time i didnt waste on cleaning gunky dino out of the skid plates. it also gives you a chance to visually inspect all the parts covered by the plates.

hope this helps!!!

 

thats to much work for me to keep every thing a little bit cleaner, i just leave my oil filter hand tight so it easy to remove with out any tools and i hardly spill any oil anyways just the stuff that come out of the filter.

 

hey sean,

thats my wonderful writeup

those are great tips, but definitely more work to do. the best no mess oil changes are done with extractors, but then again, you have to deal with the mess that comes from removing the oil filter---and thats waht makes things messy.

i am toying w/ the idea of creating a screw on or bolt on cup w/ a drain valve or bung attachment that will allow you to attach a hose to it and run it to an oil pan. then i will sell it to all of you and become filthy rich and ill sail to the cayman islands to withdraw money and spend it on ... oh, stuff



bob

 

Bob...Can I go with and be Tattoo?

 

Sorry but if this is what you are talking aboutLINK
then youve been beaten to the punch.

 

im sure hes refering to the filter!

 

Just reading the article Bob wrote, and I'm wondering if anyone figured out how to destroy the anti-drainback valve on the oil filter yet? Hypothetically, if one could get a drill into the small space, could one drill the top of the oil filter and destroy the vacuum that's in the filter, draining the oil back into the engine, further reducing spillage?

 

there was a ton of old gunky oil in the skid plates, obviously from careless oil changes.

im sick of constantly smelling burning oil after an oil change. it was worth the extra effort.

looking back to this morning, it is possible to remove the rear 2 screws on the rear skid plate, remove the 2 screws in the foward plate that are recessed, and then the 3 at the front of the skid plate, and drop both down as a whole unit.

thought this would be helpful to those of us who like to do things right and keep a mechanically clean rig. i tell ya, i much rather work on a muddy mess than something covered in grease and grime. mud doesnt penetrate your skin!

with the skid plates gone, this is the easiest oil change ive ever done! if you can get the truck high enough, about 3/4 way up on my 6 ton jack stands right after the frame narrows for the front wheels, its so easy!!! also im rust free, so those bolts popped off with a ratchet and a mild amount of force.

i would give it a try next time to see how much more work it is for you. and thanks for the write-up bob! it helped. dad, who owned a 3.0 90 4runner, is not familar with this engine, and was at work today.

 

Yes. That's the only way I remove mine. Actually, I remove the recessed bolts, the rear bolts, and then the front bolts. I just sit in front of the truck and use my toes to keep the skid plate from sagging too much as I remove the front bolts When installing the plate, for some reason I have to start all of the bolts before fully tightening any of them. It just lines-up better this way.

FWIW, for an oil change I like to remove the skid plate. I don't jack-up the truck or remove the tire though.

 

I tried this weekend to punch a hole in the end of the filter to allow the oil to drain into block. That didn't work all of the pressure pushed the oil out of the hole that I punched.

 

i too use my toes. and yes, you do have to start all the screws first, otherwise NOTHING lines up!

im a little bit on the round side, so jacking up is necessary. next time ill try with out removing the tire, see if its much worse.

 

I wonder if it would work if you put suction on top of the oil cap onthe engine. We once did this in autoshop to rethread a screwed up oilpan. It worked anot a drop of oil came out on us.

Now question is would this work with the filter...

 

Here is the quick, no-mess method I use: Turn front wheels to the left (prevents the need to remove the tire), pull back the flap to give you access to the filter from the wheel well, pack paper towels under oil filter to prevent spilliage, quickly remove old filter (turning upright at earliest possible opportunity), install new filter. Done. Dont forget to turn back wheels before backing out of the garage!!

 

Originally I had created a contraption consisting of a funnel and some flexible tubing that when placed under the filter durring removal captured most of the spilling oil and directed it to the oil catch pan underneath the car. But it's a pain to get the funnel into that tight space. The last few oil changes I've used a grocery bag (the kind used for produce). I place the bag over the filter and hold it tight to the engine block underneath the filter. I then unscrew the filter into the bag capturing with it the spilling oil. Much less work than taking off the skid plates, especially if you have heavey aftermarket ones!

 

I first tried using an alumimum dish/pan left over from take out. it worked relatively well but the plastic bag trick works great.

 

How do you avoid spilling when removing the oil pan bolt through a tiny hole in aftermarket skid plates? Seems like it will still splash all over the inside of the skid until you get the ratchet and hand outta the way.

 

another reason i removed the skid plates.

there are thousands of ways to skin a cat. here how i do mine:

tie cat's tail to tree... ok ill stop here. lol.

seriously tho, it would be nice to have all of these in one thread, so go ahead and post up works for you! this way noobs, like me, dont have to search through thousands of posts when they want the answer.

 

its zee plane boss zee plane

(RIP) tattoo

 

The problem with taking the skid plate down is if your bolts are rusted in like mine were, look at my thread....
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f123/help-two-broken-bolts-skid-plate-rust-93232/

Now, that was for the back plate. I have not been able to loosen the front two bolts on the front plate yet. I will eventually break them and I will have to redrill them. This bolts are piece of crap so it is not the worse to unscrew them once in a while. Add oil when screwing them back in.

 

yea, i have NO rust to speak of under the vehicle, quite a departure from my commuter which came from CT.

regardless, i soak everything the night before in PB blaster. works wonders. after i take them out i spray them with rust eater? i think is what it is, ill have to check the can again... always works great for me.